It’s easy to smile at your pets—not only are they adorable, but they almost always bring joy. (Except for when they’ve just eaten your new shoe.) Turns out goats like it when you smile too, making the farm animal a prime candidate as the next furry friend to add to your virtual stable of pets.
This week, the Royal Society in the U.K. released a report that showed goats are much more attracted to humans grinning, per The Cut. Researchers studied 20 goats who were reportedly “habituated to human presence” and studied how long the goats interacted with the different photographs of people both smiling and angry.
“Overall, we found that goats preferred to interact first with happy faces, meaning that they are sensitive to human facial emotional cues,” the study says, while also noting that dogs and horses are able to pick up on these kinds of feelings, too.
Translation: Start smiling at your pups more. Not that you weren’t already, but this British study just gives further evidence that dog is truly a man’s best friend—and yes, is far happier when you’re grinning at him or her, too.
Photo: sergio souza on Unsplash
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